Brian Lee Harvey (born 8 August 1974) is an English singer from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was the lead singer of pop group

East 17 East 17 are an English pop boy band started by Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell in 1991. They are best known for their 1994 hit single " Stay Another Day", which was the UK Christmas number one that year. The g ...

. The later incarnation of the band, E-17, had two top 20 singles on the UK Singles Chart between 1998 and 1999, with the album ''

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

'' peaking within the top 50 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. After leaving E-17, Harvey signed a record deal with

Edel Records Edel SE & Co. KGaA is a German independent media company based in Hamburg. As a label and publishing group, it also operates marketing and sales for artists and smaller music labels. The repertoire of the Edel labels includes dance, rock and po ...

and had two singles released in 2001, "Straight Up (No Bends)" and "Loving You (Ole Ole Ole)".

Career

Harvey's vocal style emulated R&B and

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...

vocalists from the United States. His vocals put him into a position of the group's frontman, or main member, which was shared with the group's creator, songwriter, instrumentalist, rapper and singer

Tony Mortimer Anthony Michael Mortimer (born 21 October 1970) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer from London. He is a former member of the boy band East 17, who were originally active from 1991 to 1997 and sold over 20 million records worldw ...

. In 1997, Harvey was sacked from East 17 after making comments in a radio interview that appeared to condone the use of the drug

ecstasy Ecstasy most often refers to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand o ...

, in which he claimed to have taken 12 pills in one night, causing an uproar in the press and the matter being raised by Member of Parliament

Barry Legg Barry Charles Legg (born 30 May 1949) is a British politician. A former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South West (UK Parliament constituency), Milton Keyn ...

during

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...

. Mortimer left East 17 several months later. Harvey eventually rejoined the group under the rebranded name of E-17. As E-17, the group had two top 20 singles on the UK Singles Chart between 1998 and 1999, with the album ''

'' reaching the UK Top 50. In 2000, Harvey collaborated with

True Steppers True Steppers were a British UK garage production duo, consisting of Jonny Lisners and Andy Lysandrou. They had success with Dane Bowers on "Buggin", which peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart in April 2000. Their biggest selling rec ...

with the song "

True Step Tonight "True Step Tonight" is a song by UK garage duo True Steppers, released as their third single, featuring former East 17 singer Brian Harvey and U.S. R&B star Donell Jones Donell Jones (born May 22, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter ...

" featuring

Donell Jones Donell Jones (born May 22, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He met record producer Eddie F in the mid-1990s and signed with his record label Untouchables Entertainment, beginning his car ...

, which peaked at number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. After E-17, he signed a record deal with

and had two singles released in 2001, "Straight Up (No Bends)" (No. 26 UK) and "Loving You (Ole Ole Ole)" (No. 20 UK). In 2004, Harvey appeared in the fourth series of '' I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!'' Harvey left the show after six days. On 17 March 2007, Harvey performed a song entitled "I Can" for ''

Making Your Mind Up "Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz with music composed by John Danter and lyrics written by Andy Hill. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut single, the group having been formed just two months earl ...

'', the United Kingdom's national final for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The song was written by singer

Conner Reeves Conner Reeves (born 8 April 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1997 album ''Earthbound'' which was released on Colin Lester's and Ian McAndrew's Wildstar label. Reeves scored five consecutive Top 40 singles i ...

. Harvey was eliminated after the first round of voting and the eventual winners were

Scooch Scooch is a British pop group, comprising performers Natalie Powers, Caroline Barnes, David Ducasse and Russ Spencer. Scooch represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki with their song "Flying the Flag (For Y ...

. In 2014, he released a new single, "Invisible". In 2019, he was making music with rapper Cryptik Soul. He was featured in the song "A Ghetto Luv Story" on Cryptik Soul's album ''Killer's Blood''. The album was supported by the singles "Come & Save Me" and "Bang 'Em Up" which also featured Harvey.

Personal life

Harvey was married to dancer Natasha Carnegie with whom he has a daughter. On 12 December 2001, Harvey was attacked with a knife in a club car park in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. In May 2005, after being diagnosed with

clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...

, Harvey was hospitalised after an alleged suicide attempt. On 31 May 2005, he was re-admitted to hospital in a critical condition after falling under the wheels of his own car. In an interview with

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

, Harvey described reversing his

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

and suddenly feeling sick as the result of eating too many jacket potatoes, and after opening the door to vomit he accidentally stepped on the accelerator pedal instead of the brake, which resulted in him being thrown under the moving car and running over himself. In March 2019, Harvey was arrested and later released by Metropolitan Police at his home following after he made comments about "threatening to self-harm" on a live YouTube video.

Discography

Studio albums

East 17

* 1992 – ''

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

'' * 1994 – ''

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

'' * 1995 – '' Up All Night''

E-17

* 1998 – ''

Solo

*2002: ''Solo''

Singles

*2000: "

" (

featuring Brian Harvey and

) – No. 25 UK *2001: "

Straight Up (No Bends) "Straight Up (No Bends)" is the debut solo single by East 17 singer Brian Harvey Brian Lee Harvey (born 8 August 1974) is an English singer from London. He was the lead singer of pop group East 17. The later incarnation of the band, E-17, h ...

" – No. 26 UK *2001: "

Loving You (Ole Ole Ole) "Loving You (Ole Ole Ole)" is the second single from Brian Harvey's debut solo album, ''Solo (Brian Harvey album), Solo''. The track is a collaboration with Wyclef Jean, The Refugee Crew. The single was released on 15 October 2001, reaching #20 o ...

" (Brian Harvey and The Refugee Crew) – No. 20 UK *2002: "Senorita" *2007: "I Can" *2010: "Going Backwardz" *2019: "Come & Save Me" (Cryptik Soul featuring Brian Harvey and Shotti) *2019: "Bang 'Em Up" (Cryptik Soul featuring The Styles Of L, Kryptic and Brian Harvey) *2023: "Imitation Love" (Rocket Dubz featuring Brian Harvey) *2024: "NyteRidaz" (Cryptik Soul featuring Shotti and Brian Harvey)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Brian 1974 births Living people English male singers English pop singers East 17 members Singers from London Sony Music Publishing artists English contemporary R&B singers People educated at Sir George Monoux College